Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Evil Ones! / Turnabout

Nasty gnomes give C.H.U.D. a run for the money in "The Evil Ones!" by the dynamically deadly Don Heck, while the always amazing Al Tewks shows us what kind of killer toys for boys the ever frightening future holds in "Turnabout." Both stories are from the September 1953 issue of Weird Terror #7.(Click HERE for more from this great issue of Weird Terror in the THOIA Archives!)

If I had to pick one artist in the history of comics that deserves more fans than he has gotten, it would be Don Heck. I am very familiar with his work for the Atlas war comics, which was wow-inducing; and of course his work on Iron Man (to which he was a poor fit stylistically). I had not before seen his work in horror which is, judging by this post, equal in quality to his war work.

The first tale was sweetly morbid, especially with that safe landing on that man. I imagine the gnome riding the safe down like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove. And the whole idea of the invisible death demons of course brings to mind "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" from the Twilight Zone (terrorizing Johnny Lithgow and Billy Shatner).

"Turnabout" brings to mind another movie--"Christine" of course. This tale totally goes off the deep end and concludes with a total comic nerd boy's fantasy of a fabricated blond bombshell.

The cess-pool death shot in the first story was something else, but nothing can match the wild fun of TURNABOUT! A prequel to TERMINATOR, perhaps?

I love that they threw him out of the academy, called him crazy, just because he wanted to create a living, pain-feeling car. Have they never seen Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang? Herbie the Love Bug? Couldn't they see the wonderful possibilities?

I have to say, Peter Engine did a bang-up job on that first roll-out. The commercialization of the human being in the last page is both completely mad and also strangely prescient. They don't make 'em like that anymore!

About Me

Editor / co-editor of IDW's Chilling Archives of Horror Comic Books: ZOMBIES and DEVIL TALES, as well as co-host of the bi-monthly HAUNTED HORROR comic series and HAUNTED LOVE miniseries. (All image scans and photography by me from items found in my own personal collection-- except where noted.)

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